Friday, April 4, 2014

Open Access Journal Backfiles: Hebraica

[Early (out of copyright) content in JSTOR is free of paywall restrictions and open access]

Devoted to an examination of the civilizations of the Near East, the Journal of Near Eastern Studies
has for 125 years published contributions from scholars of
international reputation on the archaeology, art, history, languages,
literatures, and religions of the Near East.

Founded in 1884 as Hebraica, the journal was renamed twice
over the course of the following century, each name change reflecting
the growth and expansion of the fields covered by the publication. In
1895 it became the American Journal of Semitic Languages and Literatures, and in 1942 it received its present designation, the Journal of Near Eastern Studies. From an original emphasis on Old Testament studies in the nineteenth century, JNES
has since broadened its scope to encompass all aspects of the vibrant
and varied civilizations of the Near East, from the ancient to
pre-modern Near East.

A substantial book review section in every issue provides a critical
overview of new publications by both emerging and established scholars.

The primary focus of the project is notice and comment on open access material relating to the ancient world, but I will also include other kinds of networked information as it comes available.

The ancient world is conceived here as it is at the Institute for the Study of the Ancient World at New York University, my academic home at the time AWOL was launched. That is, from the Pillars of Hercules to the Pacific, from the beginnings of human habitation to the late antique / early Islamic period.

AWOL is the successor to Abzu, a guide to networked open access data relevant to the study and public presentation of the Ancient Near East and the Ancient Mediterranean world, founded at the Oriental Institute, University of Chicago in 1994. Together they represent the longest sustained effort to map the development of open digital scholarship in any discipline.